• Movie Releases
• Theaters are thankful for 3D
• And that’s a problem, accurding to James Cameron (link)
• Doctor Hobbit: Sylvester McCoy in talks for a role in The Hobbit
• Doctor Here-We-Go-Again: BBC screwing with the schedule for next year…
• “The Woz” will be on The Big Bang Theory!
• Apple’s Announcement: We’ll get to it next week.
• Price Cuts, Price Cuts, Price Cuts!

Promo:

• The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd

• Movie releases
• The canary in the coal mine? – Dorchester Publishing has announced they are getting out of mass market publishing, focusing on Ebooks and Print-on-Demand.
• German schools to start teaching digital privacy (link)
• Seagate ‘Momentus’ hard drive review (link)
• Listener question: What’s a good first programming language?

Peeks:

• Melissa – Alamo Draft House showing ‘The Blues Brothers” at Joliet Prison in Chicago
• Richard – The Earth as Art
• Melissa – The Mondo Zombo Extravaganza Release Party at The Source
• Paul – Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
• Melissa – The Geek Partnership Society Ice Cream Social
• Melissa – The Minnesota Fringe Festival (with bonus power outage!)
• Mike – Nathan Lowell‘s Quarter Share, Now in print!

Also, feedback requested for a future topic.  check out the Facebook page!

Promos:

• The Radio Adventures of Doctor Floyd
• Did This Happen?

• Movie releases
• Ebook price wars ramp up
• Geek Peeks:
  • Melissa – The Minnesota Fringe Festival
  • Richard – Cyber War, by Richard A. Clarke and Robert Knake

Promo:

• The James Randi Educational Foundation

(Also: I just want to apologize for some of the audio quality.  There was an issue with one of the mics picking up Richard in the background, which let to some syncing issues (of which I took care of as much as I could).  Add to that a brief Audacity crash near the end (which you will most likely notice, because I wasn’t going to edit out part of Richard’s peek), and you have the episode that was a bit of a challenge for me to work on, but I got working anyways, because I love you all.  You ‘re welcome – MT)

Promo:

• The WebComic Beacon

• Mike gets attacked by Cookie Monster
• Video releases
• The EBook wars bring it
• iPhone OS 4 is out
• Paul has a Proud Father moment
• CONvergence is coming!  Want to see the schedule?

Mentions:

• Celebration Generation Cakes

Promo:

• The Scott Sigler ‘Ancestor’ book tour

TREBUCHET

With special appearances by Phil Plait, Peter Gregson,
Slau, and The Skeptical Shoe Horns.

1. God is Not Great
2. Everything Alive Will Die Someday
3. Ms.Information
4. Fifty Stories
5. FAR
6. Remora
7. Sviatoslav Lobster
8. When I Was Your Age
9. Trebuchet
10. Atlanta
11. Death From The Skies
12. Never Knew
13. Hai Yookito ‘Ya
14. Where Have You Been?
15. One Hypnopompic Jerk
16. Small Comfort
17. Happy Birthday Baby

All songs ©2010 Geologic Records/You Call That Music

Trebuchet is available at CD Baby and their
digital distribution partners including iTunes.

• Video Releases
• Office 2010 now available at retail, beta expires October 31
• Watch out, there’s an Adobe exploit floating around.
• iPhone pre-orders began today, Apple and AT&T on-line stores struggle to take the load
• Newsweek reports on zombie invasion? (link)
• Mac Mini got an update. Now more tempting as a media center box?
• XBox gets some needed love and attention
• Nintendo showing off DS3D at E3 show – Is it worth it?
• Our faith in humanity gets a boost (link)

Peeks:

• Warhammer 40,000 weekend at the Fantasy Flight Games Event Center
• CONvergence is coming
• Monster Chess. Mike wants it.

Promo:

• Movie Mantras

Plugged:

• Celebration Generation Cakes

Promo:

• The Webcomic Beacon

Oh yes, and links galore!

• http://autumnlake.com – Autumn Lake by Mark Savary
• http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/ – The Webcomic List
• http://familywebcomics.com/ – Family Webcomics
• http://mediumlarge.wordpress.com/ – Medium Large by Francesco Marciuliano
• http://www.intrepidgirlbot.com/ – The Intrepid Girlbot by Diana Nock
• http://galaxioncomics.com/ – Galaxion by Tara Tallan
• http://mycardboardlife.com/ – My Cardboard Life by Philippa Rice
• http://lastplacecomics.com/ – Last Place Comics by Zack Cranor
• http://drmcninja.com/ – Dr. McNinja
• http://missmab.com/ – Dan and Mab’s Furry Adventures
• http://www.sandraandwoo.com/ – Sandra and Woo

• Bees swarm an accident scene on I-35W in Minnesota.  To be fair, it was their truck that got hit… (link)
• Happy Towel Day!  Do you know where yours is? (link)
• In honor of the ‘Lost’ series finale, we talk about other finales from the past, planned and otherwise.
• Okay, and a few tangents as well.

Promos:

• Geek Radio Daily
• The Geologic Podcast

• First, Mike has a brief announcement.  Apologies ahead of time.
• May is the 50th anniversary of the LASER (link)
• The Kids Are Alright: 2010 edition (link)
• Remember the old jokes about if Microsoft made cars? (link)
• Poor Sony can’t catch a break, but will 3D save the company?
• Foxconn reportedly looking for an exorcist to deal with suicides at factories

Promo:

• Geek Survival Guide

Also, no real notes for the second half.  Yeah, I know, I suck.  Anyways, hope you enjoy what’s there.

Video releases

• Melissa’s trip to Ebertfest
• Big week for Microsoft Windows updates, go get ‘em
• New York Post claims Dept of Justice and Federal Trade commission negotiating on:
  • which will make inquiry re: Apple iPhone 4.0 ban on apps built using cross-platform tools
  • Does it harm competition
• Apple announced it sold 1 million iPads within 28 days of going on sale.
• Gizmodo reports Microsoft Courier project was killed and it hadn’t even been born yet.
• Windows Live Hotmail will get ActiveSync support his fall
• HTC licenses patents from Microsoft so they can sell Android phones. WTF?
• According to an  International Federation of the Phonographic Industry report, iTunes responsible for 1/4 of digital + retail US music sales. (link)
• Steam for Mac Beta, May 12

Promo:

• I Should Be Writing

• Microsoft released a 64gb Zune HD, didn’t tell anybody, most didn’t notice
• Microsoft Kin: smartphone for the dumb generation
• Apple iPhone OS 4 is coming
• Dear Google: Please fix  things *before* launch
• Another ownership tussle puts next Bond film on hold
• Avatar on Blu-Ray/DVD
• Yea, we know.  Star Wars is coming to Blu-Ray.  Please don’t make us buy I-III just to get IV-VI

Peeks:

• Richard – Torchlight
• Melissa – Ebertfest

Ebertfest is a five-day film festival, hosted by film critic of Roger Ebert. (Yes, that’s the same Roger Ebert from At the Movies. Yes, it’s the same guy who recently declared that video games could never be art. I’m wearing a Legend of Zelda jacket to the film festival today, and that’s all I’m going to say about that.) The festival takes place in his collegiate hometown of Champaign, at a gorgeous art deco building called The Virginia Theatre. It consists of 13 films; most are recent overlooked films or older classics. There is usually one 70mm print placed on the screen, and there is usually one silent film scored by live musicians. This year’s Ebertfest includes such things as Apocalypse Now Redux (a title that always makes my inner chemist wince, but my inner cineast leap for joy), Dziga Vertov’s amazing Man With a Movie Camera, and Song Sung Blue.

I’ve never been to Ebertfest before, but the combined efforts of The Virginia Theatre, My Faithful Native Guide Mirko, and a complete and total stranger named Barbara landed me both free lodging and a pass to the festival (which have been sold out since early January). Thus, yesterday I made the nine-hour drive from Minneapolis to Champaign, through the beautiful sunlit rolling fields of the central United States. After Mirko treated me to beers at a place called The Blind Pig, and we found sustenance at a place called Cowboy Monkey (best. restaurant. name. ever.), I was released into the theater.

I managed to score a seat in the front row of the balcony. I sadly had a corner of plexiglass in my line of sight toward the screen, but with a seat like that, I couldn’t complain much.

Chaz Ebert, Roger’s charming and gregarious wife, opened the festival with a short introduction. She was followed by a woman from the Illinois Film Board, whose name I utterly failed to write down. (Sadly, the Ebertfest materials, combined with the Icelandic volcanic eruption, has made it difficult for me to track who was talking live. More on that later.) Then Illinois governor Pat Quinn came onstage with Roger Ebert himself. After a very lengthy and glowing speech from Gov. Quinn, April 21st was declared “Ebertfest Day”. Speeches and applause all around.

Roger himself got up to the podium for a speech and looked quite spry, which is remarkable for a man whose jaw has been taken away by thyroid cancer. Roger manages to speak to audiences these days through his Apple laptop, which was always nearby when he was on stage. The computer voice sounds a bit Stephen Hawking-ish, but really, Apple’s text-to-speech software has come a long way since I first toyed with around 15 years ago. The robotic nature of the computerized voice was softened by the fact that Roger would humorously gesture along with it, once he set it rolling.

(Is it wrong of me to want to see him debate Hawking on something? Just once?)

The first item of the festival was a short film called “Stand By Me”. Do yourself a favor and watch it right now:

This was followed by a 35mm print of Pink Floyd The Wall, which always makes me wonder why anyone in their right mind would get stoned before watching this film. I’d never seen it in a theater before, though, so last night’s viewing was a cinematic joy (of sorts… The Wall evokes a lot of emotion for most folks, but “joy” usually isn’t in the mix). My one lament is that the print was not the 70mm print promised by the festival materials. However, the 70mm print apparently came in from Britain, but failed inspection by the festival runners. (In the words of one of the festival organizers, the print was, “Pink. Very pink. Too pink.” Funny in this context, yes, but it’s sad that the only 70mm print of The Wall in existence has deteriorated that much.) Thankfully, Warner Brothers provided a 35mm print at the last minute, or else we wouldn’t have seen the film at all.

Much has been said about The Wall since 1982, and I doubt I could shed much more light on it here, especially since my half hour is mostly up. A panel of international film critics discussed the film for around an hour after the showing, and mostly determined that the film was about the parallels between fascism and rock & roll, the isolation of self, and the life of Roger Waters.

The most interesting observation of the night came from Tom Dark, the one critic on stage who hadn’t seen the film before that night. He theorized that rock & roll prevented World War III, by venting the anger and frustration of youth.

Well, how do you follow The Wall? With a Swedish comedy about isolation, of course.

I’m talking about a film called You, the Living, which came out a couple years ago, and which I saw for the first time last night. My first post on Twitter about the film said: “You, the Living is a movie I can’t really describe. I can at least describe The Wall. Consider that.” I did enjoy the film immensely. There are portions of the film that I found howlingly funny, and individual scenes are genuine works of art. But I don’t have the words to describe it.

Thankfully, a hastily-assembled panel of critics discussed the film at length at midnight, and they provided me with the right words. I lament that I don’t have any of their names at hand (if I can figure out who they were today, I’ll post a correction). One critic described it as, “an Alfred Hitchcock plot as written by Samuel Beckett.” Another said it was “like The Far Side crossed with Ingmar Bergman.” A third noted that it was “like being stuck in the ugliest IKEA ever.” All three descriptions are apt, and yet they fail to embrace the sheer oddity of You, the Living.

I guess my description of it, as flawed as it is, is that the film is a string of 50 or so absurdist vignettes about disconnected people. One of the critics noted that the film was more like installation art than a movie, which is something I was mulling over before he said it. The movie sets up static spaces, and deadpan things happen in the spaces.

Anyway, if you have an off-kilter sense of humor, I highly recommend You, the Living. You can test his humor yourself by viewing this playlist of his commercial work on YouTube. If you laugh yourself silly by watching these, you know what to do next.

Anyway, that closed out the night, and I am now about 10 minutes behind schedule. I have to get back to the theater for today’s noon showing of Munyurangabo. Catch you tomorrow!

• R.I.P. – Microsoft Vista (link)
• Melissa has a pigeon!
• New Hard drive pre-loaded with DRM-locked films (link)
• Taylor Lautner fan to Universal Studios: “Your Wolfman ripped off Twilight” (link)

Plugs:

• Sharon Stiteler
• Safe As Houses
• The MISFITS/GPS Team Trivia Challenge
• The Charity Fragathon

• A few movie releases
• The iPad is out (and Richard has one)
• New Doctor Who is out (and Mike’s seen it)
• RIP – John Forsythe
• RIP – Ed Roberts (Founder of MITS, Inventor of Altair 8800
• The FCC doesn’t have jurisdiction over Net Neutrality enforcement (link)

Geek Peeks:

• Melissa: The MISFITS/GPS Team Trivia Challenge
• Paul: The Charity Fragathon
• Richard: Bento
• Mike: The Geek Life Facebook page

Promo:

• Geek Radio Daily

Picks:

• Melissa – w00tstock and EbertFest
• Paul – The Charity Fragathon
• Richard – ‘I.O.U.: Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No One Can Pay’ by John Lanchester

Promos:

• Scott Sigler’s ‘The Starter’
• Geek Survival Guide

This week, the crew talks about:

• An Avalanche on Mars.  Caught in the act! (link)
• So Paul, what’s going on at the Summit Brewery?
• Casting in “Predators“
• What phone apps do you use?
• Mike also makes a quick plug for the Basic Brewing podcasts

Promo:

• Scott Sigler’s “The Starter”

• Valve is bringing the Steam gaming service to the Mac! (link)
• The Oscars: Were there any real surprises?

Peeks:

• Melissa: JägerCon
• Paul: Twin Cities Fragathon 2 and Robot Unicorn Attack
• Richard: Black Dynamite

Mike’s daughter, the elusive ’2.0′ even has a brief cameo!

Promo: The Geologic Podcast

• More iPad news, natch
• Valve makes Mac gamers very happy
• Microsoft does games integration like nobody else
• Microsoft Courier vaporware continues
• Ubisoft’s DRM PR nightmare
• Is Internet access a fundamental right?

• Alice in Wonderland and Miyazaki Madness in video
• More magazines coming to iPad
• No upgrades to Windows Phone 7 Series
• Google and Microsoft fling mud at each other
• Newspapers are dead, they just haven’t fallen down yet.
• Apple “admits” to child labor, but not what the headlines imply.

• Apple gets lots of good news for Steve Job’s 55th birthday
• Yahoo gets into the Twitter game
• EU says Google is next, mystery hacker says Intel next
• The rickroll may finally be no more.
• Subversion for Photoshop.

• The Apple App Store’s policy changes regarding ‘sexual content’ (Link to the chilifresh article)
• The Lower Merion School District web cam debacle (Link to the lawsuit .pdf)

Geek Peeks:

• Demonless for the iPhone
• Charity Fragathon 2! (Link soon)

Promo: Geek Survival Guide

• New video releases, now with more Ron Jeremy!
• Wal-Mart buys Vudu
• Twitterers Tweet 50 million a day
• Applying for college? Get out the video camera
• John Carmack gets UberGeek award

• Toy Story 3 Game, Starcraft 2, Sucky DRM and on-line game server shutdowns
• Metro 2033 will have more game features you can’t use yet.
• Google allows you to delete Buzz profiles as EPIC complains to FTC
• Please Rob Me
• Diff utility for Photoshop files
• Verizon will permit Skype VOIP calls on 3G
• Facebook Zero ready for mobile web browsing, no carriers support it yet

In this episode, we talk about the Apple iPad, and this year’s Oscar nominations.  Enjoy!

No, you’re not getting the full list yet.  I’ll post it on Monday

This week, the crew talks about the top 5 “Must See”: movies in their respective collections.  Want a list?  Well, you’ll just have to wait, now won’t you

Part 2 will post in a couple of days.

Links:

• Project 365
• The Twin Cities Develpoer’s Guild
• Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age
• The Adventures of Indiana Jim

See you all next year!

This episode, the crew talks about:

• Movie, video and game releases
• Sony Reader goes ePub December 11
• Barnes and Noble Nook units starting to ship
• Apple buys Lala
• Dell creates new division for mobile phones and portable devices
• Google Chrome beta for Mac and Linux released
• Virgin Galactic unveiled SpaceShipTwo, plans commercial space flights for the uber-wealthy in 2011 (Waiting for regulatory approvals and building spaceport in New Mexico.)
• FCC admits CableCard failed. Why? Since 2004, only 14 3rd party devices available, and generally are a pain to setup.
• Apple does it again: new MacPro has 2TB hard drive option for $350, get ‘em from NewEgg for < $200
• Verizon raised early termination fees up to $350 in some bases, FCC now asking them about it and how customers are notified about it
• Comcast of Borg wants to buy NBC Universal in deal with GE, will own 51%. FCC, FTC, Justice Dept staff see another 2 years guaranteed jobs.
• Handbrake updated, supposedly faster compression with smaller file

Promo played: Geek Radio Daily

• Video releases
• Game releases
• Rumor, WalMart selling Magnavox profile 1.1 BD player on Black Friday for $78, Sony & Samsung profile 2 models for $148
• But Roku delivers more smackdown: rolling out update adding new content channels Pandora, Facebook Photos, Revision3, Mediafly, TWiT, blip.tv, Flickr, FrameChannel, Motionbox and MobileTribe.
• Rogue Amoeba publically leaves iPhone App store over frustration with approval process (follows Justin Williams after Google Voice rejection). Devs went back to Mac development where speed bumps to sales don’t exist.
• Public betas for Office 2010, Project 2010, Visio 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 are now public and on MSDN/Technet.
• Woops! Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 (all versions) have a flaw in SMB File Sharing. Attack can cause target computer to lock up. No patch yet available.
• Woops! Internet Explorer versions 6 and 7 have a remote code execution vulnerability. IE 8 is not affected. Time to update if you haven’t already.
• Microsoft publically released SDK for Surface, $10,000 table not included
• Windows 8 rumored for release in 2012. 3 years, no duh. Perhaps they’ll make it this time.
• Square Trade annual laptop repair survey: Asus had fewest repairs in 2 and 3 years, followed by Toshiba and Sony. Apple came fourth. HP was dead last, just after Gateway/Acer. HP failure rate over 3 years: 25%. Netbooks more likely to fail by 20%. (link)
• More Drobo: Drobo S adds a fifth drive bay and can withstand 2 drive failures, adds eSATA support. $799 with no drives.
• Makes sense: Sergey Brin says Android and Chrome OS will likely converge over time. Don’t suppose you could…plan that or show a road map?
• AdMob claims that 75% of web traffic on web sites comes from iPhone and Android.
• Large Hadron Collider operations, “We have captured it! First circulating beam of 2009!”, and we’re still here to talk about it.
• Anniversary of Origin of the Species and Lucy.
• Opinion: Apple can’t have it both ways
• Geek Peeks:
  • Richard: Left 4 Dead 2
  • Mike: Mandelbulb (link)

Promo: The Leviathan Chronicles

• In case you haven’t heard yet, There’s Water On The Moon! (link)
• NASA trying a radical, unorthodox manoever to get the Spirit rover unstuck from the patch of sand it’s in: Backing up (link)
• What Happens When You Bring a 22-Year-Old Mac to the Genius Bar? (link)
• Oh yeah, YouTube went to 1080p video (link)
• I’ll believe it when I see it – The reality of flying cars (link)
• Mike’s Geek Peek: The Feynman lectures on Project Tuva (link)

• Video Releases
• Game Releases
• News Shout outs:
  • Paranormal Activity spiked to #1 box office this past weekend.
  • Fortunately, Saw VI opened at #2
  • You gotta be kidding: Wal-Mart will do their own ‘Geek Squad’ styled home installation service.
  • Amazon will bring Kindle reading app to Windows and OS X
  • Andy Ihnatko sez Apple tablet could do digital comic books, and talks about Longbox (link)
  • Apple BootCamp does not support Windows 7 yet, Apple says by end of year
  • Apple’s Phil Shiller sez you can go shopping now: holiday product lineup is set.
  • WTF? Burger King in Japan selling a Windows 7 Whopper with seven slabs of beef(!) thankfully one week only.
  • Microsoft first quarter numbers: revenue down 14%, but still beat expectations, still made $3.5 billion. XBox 360 & Zune division doubled profit on same revenue.
  • Director of Programming for XBox Live says no Blu-Ray drive for XBox, Ballmer says future is on-demand, not physical media. Damn it.
  • Microsoft was going to sponsor entire episode of Family Guy, but not anymore.
  • The free ride’s over: News Corp executives keep saying that Hulu’s ad-supported model isn’t working, may start charging as soon as 2010.
  • PlayStation 3 to get NetFlix streaming sometime in November. Users must have a special blu-ray disc that uses BD-Live to stream content.
  • Champions Online will be free to download and play from Oct 30 – Nov 2.
  • GameFly (rent by mail service) now has iPhone app to manage your account and queue.
  • Now your iPhone is Doomed – John Carmack of id Software claims “Doom Classic” submitted to App store.
  • Someone is finally trying it! Microsoft Store in Scottsdale AZ has kiosks to burn games in-store (link)
  • Roger Daltrey claims The Who is joining the Rock Band Wagon.
  • Ars Technica seize: B&N Nook runs on top of Android.
  • Google Wave is still in “dev preview”, and already they’re talking about an “App Store” for extensions to the service. WTF?
  • Fasten your seat belts. FCC drafting net neutrality rules; McCain proposing “Internet Freedom Act of 2009″ specifically to prevent the FCC from implementing them.
• Cool thing of the week:
  • VScan – ultrasound scanner with the form factor of a clamshell phone. (link)

Promos Played:

• 7th Son: Descent
• The Geologic Podcast

This week, the crew talks about:

• Video releases
• Game releases
• Movies
• Apple’s new kit
• Computing news
• Tech news
• Gaming news
• Science! news

Promos played:

• 7th Son: Descent
• Movie Mantras

Some highlights:

• Toys ‘r Us has buy 2 get 1 free deal until October 17. (link)
• New Toy Story 3 trailer is up! (link)
• The Big Download tells you What PC Gamers Need to Know about Windows 7. (link)
• The cloud fails…again…and lessons learned
• But crappy passwords are also still a problem. Lessons learned. (link)
• Software Patents are Rotten Story #4,826,021

Our usual post production tools weren’t available to me, so…enjoy anyway.

• Video Releases
• Game releases
• News Briefs
• Queue the violins – Jack Thompson is suing Facebook (link)
• Self proclaimed ‘Anarchist’ arrested for tweeting out The Fuzz to protesters (link)
• A new ebook reader is coming out, and prices are only going to get lower (link)
• New-Egg posts OEM prices for Windows7 (link)
• Gizmodo won’t shut up about Microsoft’s ‘Courier’ (link)

Promos played:

• Movie Mantras
• The Adventures of Indiana Jim

• Videos!
• Movies!
• Games!
• News Shoutouts
• Microsoft retail stores – Are we comparing them to the wrong thing?
• Intel’s app store for Moblin is up (link)
• iRex DR 800SG ebook reader
• Courier: What is it? (link)
• It’s Official: Morons ruin it for the rest of us. (link)

Promo: Sessions With Slau

Also, in case you need a reference for the title: You can check out the video.

• Video Releases
• Microsoft XBox Rebate
• This is a game changer
• Google’s changing the browser game. Again (link)
• Microsoft Office for Mac changes
• BeOS Lives! (link)
• Apple gives Grand Central Dispatch to open source
• Intel launches development program for Netbooks
• AMD to release AM3 6-core processors next year, but compatible with AM3 and AM2+ motherboards.
• Days of not using anti-virus on Windows are over.
• MySpace adds sync with Twitter

Note: For some reason, the web player below is playing Episode 26, even though it’s not supposed to.  I’m looking into it.  In the mean time, iTunes, the RSS feed and the ‘Download’ link all work the way they’re supposed to, and *clicking on the post title, so only this post is displayed* will get the web player to behave properly.

• Video releases
• Intel begins manufacturing 32-nm chips
• Leaked Toys r Us ad shows $50 price cut for Wii?
• Lenovo announces two convertible laptop/tablet models (with Touch interface)
• HP introduces MacBook clone that is more expensive than MacBook
• Novell releases “MonoTouch“, develop iPhone apps in .NET
• Apple revises Apple TV products, but not enough
• Sega Dreamcast 10 years old this month!
• We’re running out of IP v4 addresses…again!
• Zune HD ships
• The Apple event: How close were we?

• Video releases
• IBM announced POWER7 chip with 8 processing cores. PowerPC is not dead!
• AMD announced an upcoming 12-core processor for servers due in 2010.
• Opera just won’t quit, releases Opera 10
• 16 and 32gb Zune models will be on the only ones for sale; all existing models retired.
• Windows Mobile 6.5 phones to ship October 6, but we know WinMo 7 is coming.
• Diebold out of the electronic voting market; sells “Premier Election Solutions” to ES&S for $5 million
• Separation of public and private life continues to blur (link)
• Are you kidding?! Library ditches books for big screens, computers and e-readers (link)
• Sony brings price war to eBook market
• Apple holds event Sept 9 – (How wrong were we?)

Promos played:

• I Should Be Writing
• Nobody’s Listening Podcast

• Video releases
• New iPod models expected in September announcement.
• Snow Leopard is out
• FTC bans Robo-Calls… sort of.
• DHS Seizure guidelines clarified, still ugly (link)
• US District Court of Appeals overturns cable company ownership limits (link)
• Video game console competition create price war
• Wait, Disney bought Marvel?!

Promos Played

• Variant Frequencies
• The Geek Spin

• Video releases
• Paul has a rant about “Wiseguy”
• Office 2010 for Mac will have honest to God Outlook, really, we mean it this time
• Apple re-introduces anti-glare option for 15″ MacBook Pros, but it’ll cost ya $50 extra
• University of Washington introduces certificate programs for OS X and iPhone development
• Sony moving ebook store to ePub standard, introducing $199 reader this fall
• TomTom has navigation App for iPhone: Only $99.99 for US & Canada!
• Mike had a surreal moment the other day
• The music migration continues (link)
• Microsoft ordered to stop selling Word.  Word. (link)
• ‘Bodies’ exhibit at Mall of America

Promos played:

• Movie Mantras
• The Geologic Podcast
• Sessions with Slau

In other news, I noticed I said “you know” a lot in this episode.  I really have to work on that…

• Facebook bought FriendFeed?
• 40th Anniversary of Moon Landing
• Apple’s App store reaches 1.5 billion downloads in about a year. That’s a lot of little bits. Too bad so many of them were flatulence apps.
• Melissa Kaercher’s TAM7 report
• Windows 7 Hits TechNet
• Microsoft will open retail stores near Apple stores. Best way to guarantee failure: imitate instead of doing your own thing.
• Evans data study says developers surveyed using Ruby increased from 10% in 2008 to 14%, with 20% expecting in the coming year
• Anniversary: Narodowe Melodye – Our theme song – was recorded July 24, 1922. Happy 87th Anniversary! (link)
• Survey: People who use subscription and streaming services tend to buy more CDs. (link)
• It isn’t Orwellian, yet…just an unfortuante coincidence (link)
• Bored? Stanford prof sequences own genome in a week (link)
• Still bored? Scientists get a million Linux kernels to run at once (link)

Promos Played:

• The Adventures of Indiana Jim
• Mike’s Hot Dish

• A short announcement from Mike about the quality of the next few episodes
• Video releases
• Quick news shoutouts
• “Asteroids” – The Movie?! (link)
• Windows 7 – “Family Pack” licencing? (link)
• Violating terms of service is not a crime (link)
• Nope, There’s no vested interest here (link)
• Another reason to use less-than-dominant Operating Systems (link)
• WTF? – News media has no obligation to tell the truth. (link)
• Paul’s Geek Peek – The Plinth Cam! (link)

Promos Played:

• Mike’s Hot Dish
• Geek Survival Guide
• Scott Sigler’s ‘The Rookie’

• Video releases
• New Futurama Episodes coming! (link)
• Give your Kindle that New Book Smell (link)
  • (although, I half expect Demeter Fragrance to come out with this… – MT)
• 3 Actors signed for The Hobbit movies
• O’Reilly publishes The Geek Atlas (link)
• This is news? – ZD Net CIO Jury: wait on Windows 7 (link)
• 46 movie remakes currently in the works: Who needs originality? (link)

Promos played:

• The Geologic Podcast
• The Adventures of Indiana Jim

• Video releases
• Tetris is 25 years old. Go play it.
• 50k Palm Pre sold on opening weekend. Not great, but not bad.
• Friday, June 12. Digital TV switch is gonna happen this time, for real, seriously, we mean it.
• Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference
• Stupid Microsoft Stories:
  • MS further limits netbooks (link)
  • Internet Explorer 6 forced to set Bing as default search engine? (link)
  • Best Buy makes hay of Vista’s crappy image (link)
• Kindle DX at the Univ. of Washington (link)
• WTF were you thinking? – Sony’s new PSP (link)

Promos played:

• The Leviathan Chronicles
• Geek Survival Guide
• Variant Frequencies

• Video releases
• Amazon Kindle DX to start shipping June 10 (link)
• The Matrix Online proves the final movie’s tagline “everything that has a beginning has an end” (link)
• BlizzCon second block of tickets sells out in 30 minutes (link)
• Sell used games, give up your fingerprints? (link)
• Games become the next software subscription service (link)
• Windows 7 Starter Edition loses 3-app limit (link)
• WTF were you thinking? – Quo Computer – Mac clones? (link)
• Geek Peeks
  • Richard: “Up”.
  • Mike: The Falkirk Wheel, Scotland (link)
    • With video, no less (link)

Promos:

• Scott Sigler’s ‘The Rookie’
• The Adventures of Indiana Jim
• The Geek Spin

• Video Releases
• A new media streaming unit?  Where is this going?
• Amazon changes their Kindle email pricing. (link)
• WTF? PeTA boycotting Canadian maple syrup? (link)

Promo: Nina Kimberly The Merciless

• Video releases
• Star Trek opening weekend
• Maybe the Kindle won’t save newspapers after all (link)
• Microsoft announces non-announcement we all already knew about (link)
• The new Microsoft Ad: As if we haven’t heard this argument before (link)

Promos Played:

• The Geek Survival Guide
• Metamor City

• Video Releases
• Movies
• Myst is now on the iPhone!
• Useless, but cool:  Reiner van der Ende’s game component X-Ray gallery (link)
• Windows 7 release candidate available to the public
• A bunch of rumors about Amazon, Apple and Sony
• Geek Peeks:
  • Richard – Zombieville USA (link)
  • Paul – Earth Impact Database (link)

Promos played this week:

• J.C. Hutchins’ Personal Effects: Sword of Blood
• Nobody’s Listening
• Variant Frequencies

And, as a special bonus, they’re all backed by the full recording of Narodowe Melodye – A polka recorded in 1922 that we use as the theme for the podcast (courtesy of The Internet Archive)!  How cool is that?

Enjoy the look back, and we’ll see you again when we’re all feeling better (or at least well enough to record again).

• Video Releases
• Gasp! or Ha-Ha! OS X BotNet may be in the wild (link)
• Digital continues to reduce cost of entry (link)
• O’Reilly announces 160 titles for Amazon Kindle without DRM (link)
• CompUSA is back?! (link)
• Amazon adds HD content (link)
• Richard goes on a Rant (link)

Promos:

• The Takeover
• Nobody’s Listening
• Metamor City
• Nina Kimberly the Merciless

• Movie releases
• Wizards of the Coast takes their ball and goes home (link)
• Ars reviews the DSi (link)
• Will Microsoft’s ad campaign backfire… Again? (link)
• I mean come on, Warhammer Online could do better marketing…like this (link)
• Another one bites the dust: Starlog in print no more (link)
• Geek Peeks:
  • LaCie iamaKey – a SB keychain drive that will actually fit on your keychain (link)
  • ‘Matter’ by Ian Banks (link)

Promos Played:

• I Should Be Writing
• Krakens Quest
• Commit Yourself to The Brink

• Video Releases
• Microsoft claims 96% of Netbooks run Windows (link)
• But older versions of Windows aren’t going away… (link)
• Nintendo DSi now available in the US
• Saying goodbye to the chain DVD rental store? (link)
• Toy Story gets a 3D release (link)
• Discussion: Are 3D movies staying, or just a fad (again)?

Promos played:

• Mur Lafferty’s ‘The Takeover’
• The Leviathan Chronicles
• Nathen Lowell’s ‘Quarter Share’

Here is the video to accompany the theme song from the 365 Days of Astronomy podcast, written and performed by George Hrab.

From Geo: “It features me, a number of silly hats, and the city of Bethlehem. No Geos were harmed during the making of this film. They were however made to feel really dizzy. Enjoy!”
……………………………….
Check out: 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast
The Geologic Podcast

Here’s the video

• Video Releases
• The International Year of Astronomy (link)
• Netflix charging more for BluRay?  Yeah, that’ll end well. (link)
• PS2 is $99, what about the PS3? (link)
• The new EEEPC: Netbook, or Laptop? (link)
• That computer you once would have paid $3000 for is now only $49.95 (link)
• Skype for the iPhone (link)
• The new Microsoft ad: What are they selling again? (link)

Promos played in this episode:

• Nina Kimberly The Merciless (link)
• Vairant Frequencies (link)
• The Geologic Podcast (link)

• Video Releases
• Internet Explorer 8 released (link) (another link)
• Silverlight 3 announced (link)
• iTunes adds HD movies to computer and Apple TV (link)
• World Domination I can handle – Netflix on Wii? (link)
• Dear Dell: Not everything Apple does needs to be emulated (link)
• Warner Archive: A good thing? (link)
• Meanwhile, Some geeks never lose their cool (link)
• Warcraft Dual Talent Trees coming (link)
• BSG Finale – Better on DVR?

Promos played in this episode:

• Billibub Baddings and The Case Of the Singing Sword (link)
• Space Casey (link)
• The Nut Gallery (link)
• Nobody’s Listening (link)

• Video / Movie News
  • Transformers 3 already?
  • Michael Bay and Ewe Boll films
• Intel vs AMD – Again
• Windows CE – Good for Netbooks?
• WTF – SyFy?
• iPhone 3.0 Software Announced
  • (In which Mike goes off on a tiny geek-out about LCD body displays)

(Note: During the recording, Paul’s Audacity crashed while trying to record the iPhone 3.0 segment.  Twice.  We decided to record the rest, then do the iPhone segment at the end, just in case it happened again, hence the general mayhem about it during the other segments. – MT)

Promos played this week:

• J.C. Hutchins wants you to ‘Commit Yourself To The Brink’ (link)
• Krakens Quest (link)
• The Nut Gallery (link)

• Video releases
• Just in time for Rich: Kindle reader for iPhone/iPod Touch
• Why does computer shopping have to be such a dismal experience?
• Microsoft introduces yet another search engine: Kumo (link)
• Apple’s new Kit: What?
• Geek Peeks:
  • Richard:  “House of the Dead: Overkill” for Wii
  • Mike:  Geek Merit Badges! (link)

Promos in this episode:

• J.C. Hutchins wants you to ‘Commit Yourself To The Brink’ (link)
• I Should Be Writing (link)
• Variant Frequencies (link)
• Christiana’s Shallow Thoughts (link)

• New releases
• Failed formats, past and present
• Paul’s G1 Android Phone review
• Me Too Me Too! – The Microsoft Store
• Kindle 2 announced
• Goodbuy, Pioneer
• MMO data – The next privacy problem? (link)
• Hey, Matt Smith haters – WTF?
• Geek Peeks:
  • Richard – Foxmarks (link)
  • Paul – “Paradox: Book I of the Nulapeiron Sequence” by John Meaney (link)
  • Mike – Audacity (link)

• The Digital TV Transition: Delayed? (link)
• Windows 7: Did MS get this one right? (link)
• Nothing else

Well okay, we talked about plenty more, but we had a slight problem…

On the bright side, you now know how we do the recordings!

See you next week!

• New Video Releases
• Laptops outship desktops globally (link)
• Nintendo beats XBox beats PS3 (link)
• Microsoft Certification: So easy, a nine year old can do it! (link)
• Roku box adds Amazon Video on Demand streaming (link)
• That was inevitable: LG adds NetFlix streaming in TV (link)
• Google Android showing up on netbooks already
• Windows 7 looking pretty good so far (link)
• It’s MacWorld!  Since we recorded this the night before the keynote, all we have are guesses and speculation.  You’ll know if we were wrong the moment you hear the predictions.  Instant gratification for the win!

Promos:

• Christiana Ellis’ Shallow Thoughts (link)
• Variant Frequencies (link)
• Quarter Share, by Nathan Lowell (link)

Have a happy, fun and safe holiday, which ever one you celebrate, and we’ll see you next year!

• DVD/BluRay releases
• George is at it again – Star Wars in 3D?
  • Link for the “Give it to Berman” reference: (link)
• Promo: The Leviathan Chronicles (link)
• Songbird: The iTunes killer?  It depends… (link)
• Promo: I Should Be Writing (link)
• Security: White-listing versus signature-based malware detection?
• Promo: The Geologic Podcast (link)
• Ugly Christmas Present #2: Does violating a web sites “Terms of Service” constitute a computer crime? (link)
• Promo: Variant Frequencies (link)
• Geek Peeks:
  • Mike: Blurb – Self Publishing, On Demand (link)
  • Pau: Squids got elbows! (link)
  • Richard: 2600 – A Hacker Odyssey (link)

• DVD / BluRay releases
• Promo: Space Casey (link)
• Netbooks: New market, or just a fad?
  • Pro article (link)
  • Not so pro (link)
• Promo: I Should Be Writing (link)
• Ugly Christmas Present – BitTorrent sounds like it’s going to get ugly (link)
• Announcement from Mike: Sorry, but there’s no more show this week

Here’s what’s in store this week:

• DVD / BluRay releases
• Promo: The Geologic Podcast (link)
• History Channel releasing season 1 of ‘The Universe’ on BluRay
• General discussion on BluRay and HD
• Promo: 7th Son – Book 1: Descent (link)
• What will Black Friday bring this year?
• The next big thing: Low Def?
• Download services: Where’s the consistency?
• Promo: Morevi Remastered (link)
• Two, yes two, World of Warcraft releases
• Lots of general RPG nostalgia…
• Promo: The Leviathan Chronicles (link)
• iPhone software v2.2 will let you download podcasts! (link)
  • And really, who didn’t see this coming?
• New segment: WTF were you thinking?!
  • Adelir Antonio de Carli (link)
• Promo: Quarter Share (link)
• Geek Peeks:
  • Mike: Encedalus Up Close (link)
  • Paul: Tactics of Mistake by Gordon R. Dickson
  • Richard: WALL-E

• DVD / Blu-Ray releases
• Goodbye Paul Newman
• iPhone Developer Follies, Pt. 2 (Link) (Another Link)
• iPhone App store only allows reviews by people who bought the application
• T-Mobile’s First Android Phone (Link)
• Ars Technica Jonathan Coulton Interview (Link)
• Warhammer: Age of Reckoning does well (Link)
• Meanwhile, Massively.com asks “Sick of fantasy yet”? (Link)
• Duke Nukem 3D available on XBox Live Arcade for $10
• Geek Peek of the Week:
  • Richard: Warhammer: Age of Reckoning (Link)
  • Mike: XKCD (Link)

• DVD Releases and News
• Large Hadron Collider shut down, we have more time to live! (Link)
• SoCal officials to pave over music-making asphalt (Link) (YouTube Link)
• EA Games teaches us how to lie with numbers (Link)
• Game developer polls for platform for next Timesplitters (Link)
• Microsoft changes ad strategy again (Link)
• Intel Six-Core chip (Link)
• HotHardware takes apart the Dell Mini…er Studio Hybrid (Link)
• The ultimate small form factor computer (Link)
• Geek Peek of the Week:
  • Paul – The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks (Link)
  • Mike – The Middleman (Link)
  • Richard – Rune Soldier (Link)

• DVD/Blu-Ray Releases
• iPhone Applications: Problems with Developer PR (Link)
• AT&T pushing the wrong plan?
• The iPod as a mature product
• NBC is back on iTunes? What about Hulu?
• Hard Drives expand!
• Dell enters Netbook market
• World of Warcraft Patch 3.0 is trickling out (Link)
• ‘World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King’ announced!
• Spore’s DRM Woes
• Guest Review: Spore

Geek Peeks of the Week

• Paul:
  • Charity Fragathon – Wednesday, September 24, 2008 (6-10PM) (Link)
  • Head First Statistics (Link)
• Richard:
  • The Verve “Forth” (Link)
  • Klaus Schulze & Lisa Gerrard “Farscape” (Link)

Talk to us!

www.thegeeklife.tv

talkback@thegeeklife.tv

stories@thegeeklife.tv

Entertainment News:

• New releases
  • The Forbidden Kingdom (Jackie Chan, Jet Li), 2-dvd $35, 2-disc Blu-Ray $40
  • Smallville – Season 7, 6-dvd $60, 6-disc Blu-Ray $80
• DVD re-releases
  • The Big Lebowski 10^th Anniversary Edition, DVD, $20 SRP
  • Blu-Ray re-releases
  • Night Watch, $40 and Day Watch, $40
  • Kill Bill, V1 and V2, $35 each (and Mike starts a small Tarantino rant)
• British and US TV Updates
  • Tangent about alternative distribution methods

Technology News:

• Amazon revamps VoD service, now works on multiple platforms
  • Including the Sony “Bravia Box” (?)
  • Own via downloading vs. Own via streaming
• Everyone’s speculating about the Apple announcement
• Microsoft will put sales reps into big box stores

Geek Peeks of the Week:

• Paul: The Charity Fragathon (link)
• Paul: Esquire magazine with an e-Ink cover?
• Mike: Free online book: John Palmer’s ‘How To Brew’ (link)
• Rich: Doctor Who: The Silurians on DVD

• New DVD and movie releases
• Harry Potter pushed out, Twilight pulled up
• What’s wrong with Urban Fantasy/Supernatural Romance books?
• Sci-Fi has ADD: Stargate Atlantis is out, Stargate Universe is in
• TV Episodes: Good constraints and bad constraints
• Flash Gordon quietly dropped, thankfully
• Nintendo’s “My Chinese Coach”: a new way of language education?
• Amazon Kindle for Textbooks: saving student’s backs and budgets
• Jerry Seinfield to punt for Microsoft
• Mike’s Peek: Lego Man is 30 years old
• Paul’s Peek: Charity Fragathon (yes, again!)
• Richard’s Peek: Terminator-The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Season 1 DVD

• The iMac is 10 years old
• The world is coming to an end: Apple has a higher market cap than Google? (Link)
• The next Y2K? – Ars Technica reports: 2.7 billion IP addresses used, < 1 billion left
• DVD News
  • Ultraman – The Complete Series, 6-dvd, Oct 14, English + Japanese, English subtitles, $50 SRP.
  • Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Oct 14, 2-disc DVD and 2-disc Blu-Ray, $40, single disc DVD $30
• Movies opening
  • Death Race, Jason Statham, Joan Allen, Ian McShane Link)
• Geek Peek of the Week:
  • Mike: Podiobooks.com – Serialized audio books (Link)
  • Paul: Charity Fragathon (Link)
  • Richard: Michael Moorcock stories re-released (Link)